FOR CENTURIES, POETS and painters have watched and recorded the sea
from the hills overlooking the Chilean port of valparaiso. Today this
romantic city is bursting with the pressures of growth. Containers of
copper goods, fresh fruit, timber and wine, made from some of the
world's finest grapes, are stacked high awaiting shipment to all
corners of the globe.

The Chilean wine industry developed in the 1860's under the
influence of the local aristocracy Basque/French landed families of
Chile, whose fortunes were built on mining coal and metals, wintered in
Paris and brought Bordelais winemakers back with them on their return.
Parks were designed by French landscape architects, creating tranquil
estates surrounded by vineyards of cabernet sauvignon and sauvignon
blanc, the staples of red and white Bordeaux wines.

But by the end of the century, most vineyards in Bordeaux, and the
rest of Europe has been devastated by a plant louse known as phylloxera.
It had been imported to France on North American vines, and quickly
ravaged the roots of Europe vineyards. To combat the louse, vineyards
around the world were planted on resistant, native North American
rootstock, with vines grafted on top. Chile, remote and protected from
phylloxera infestation by the narrow confines of the Andes to the East,
the Pacific Ocean to the West and by a vast desert in the North, is the
only wine region today where the original vine clones of nineteenth
century Bordeaux still prosper on vitis vinifera roostock, without the
need for granting.

That piece of trivia amounts to tremendous cost savings in
propagating vines and planting new vineyards. In North America, the
savings would be abour $2 on each $3 nursery grafted plant, or about
$5000 a hectare. And because the vines are from the old Bordeaux
clones, they produce grapes with a slightly different flavor than what
is found elsewhere in the world. Ungrafted vines, a consistently benign
climate, proximity to cooling ocean breezes, relatively inexpensive
land, and vigorous agriculture all have combined to focus international
attention on Chilean wine.

Foreign investment in the Chilean wine buinsess is now driving the
pace of change to an unprecedented level. On a recent trip to taste and
explore the potential of Chile's wine industry, the work of four
leaders stood out. The wines of these producers have undergone
revolutionary change in each vintage tasted since 1987, and each of them
promises even greater development during the next five years.

The pace of this change shows a willingness to create wines from
Chilean soil for the world market, rather than holding fast to a
traditional or national taste. Although Chile has a large middle class
which could afford premium wines, consumer tastes here have not yet
caught up with the revolution in viticulture. More and more wine sold
locally is marketed in tetra-packs, little aluminum and plastic
boxes--glass bottles here represent one quarter of the cost of most wine
on supermarket shelves. The highest quality wine is mostly produced for
export, since there is limited demand for it in Chile.

The first leg of this exploration of Chile's wine leaders
began along the Aconcagua River. Flying into Santiago, the great peak
to the northeast is Aconcagua, which sends its ice melt through a
gigantic gorge to the Pacific Ocean. The river valley of the same name
is an agricultural center, ringed by the coastal range to the west and
the Andes to the east. Panquehue is a tiny settlement in the valley.
The name of this village incorporates the Mapuche Indian word for place,
"hue", which appears at the end of town names throughout Chile
with the regularity of-ville or -ton in North America.

Errazuriz Panquehue is an old estate of the town. The family name,
Errazuriz, is Basque; the young proprietor, Eduardo Chadwick Claro, adds
a British element to the Basque/Spanish/Mapuche melange. Now Chadwick
is working with Agustin Huneeus, of California's Franciscan Estate
Selections, and his German backers, the Eckes family, all of whom
greeted us on our arrival: an international conference in the Aconcagua
Valley.

A native of Chile himself, Huneeus offered a unique perspective on
the developments in Chile. "Wine culture dropped off during a
generation of political problems, and has not been quality oriented
until recently," Huneeus began as we descended to the aging cellars
where slats of old casks were stacked and bound, replaced by new oak
barriques from France and Kentucky. "Prior to the last five years,
wood had not been imported into Chile for 50 or 60 years. Now
we're seeing a new approach to wine. We're stopping
irrigation three or four months before the harvest; the wood situation
is improving; and we're incorporating temperature controlled
stainless steel for white wine production at our new facility in Curico.
In the next several harvests, when the vineyards have been changed by
new management practices, there will be a major changes in the wines.
What we've learned to do in the Napa Valley over a long period of
time, we're incorporating here in four years."

The Don Maximiano Vineyard, surrounding the small white adobe
winery, is the source for Errazuriz Panquehue's premium bottling of
cabernet. The joint venture with Franciscans also involves the
development of a new brand, Caliterra, named for calicanto, a mixture of
lime, egg white and straw which, along with bricks, forms the adobe
walls of the aging cellars in Chile. Caliterra's grapes come from
sources around Santiago and further south, in the valleys of Curico and
Lontue.

For chardonnay, Huneeus predicts that once the initial rush to
bring inexpensive chardonnay to the market has passed, the leaders in
Chile will start looking far south. A better climate for chardonnay may
be found in Mulchen, a cooler region now dry farmed in mission grapes.
"Chardonnay has no tradition in Chile," Huneeus explained.
"Chile was exclusively developed by the Bordelais. We are not yet
oriented as to where chardonnay will grow best. I am one hundred
percent sure that there are undiscovered regions of Chile, that twenty
years from now, we will have a completely different Ampelographic map.
After all, the old families here established their vineyards on the
basis of where they could go for the weekend."

As we followed Chadwick outside through the vine rows, the wiry thirty-one-year-old pointed out how thick the vegetation was so early in
the growing season. "We cut out yields tremendously in one year,
and made a much more concentrated wine." The North American
partner took the lead, explaining, "The key here is vigor. Like
California, we have over-vigorous agriculture. Replanting more densely
will take twenty years to have an effect; cutting down on water will
have an immediate impact."

By lowering the yield and controlling the vigor of the vines, the
flavor of the grapes is richer and more concentrated. Processing this
intensely flavored fruit in new stainless steel tanks, and aging it in
carefully selected imported oak barrels has a dramatic effect on the
finished wine. Normally, the use of new technology and equipment
results in a standard, well-made wine. However, because of Chile's
superior viticulture, the changes in production are having a much more
significant impact, much like the compression of coal into diamonds.

Errazuriz Panquehue only produces 80,000 cases a year, making it a
very different model from Concha y Toro, the largest wine producer in
Chile, with headquarters south of Santiago in Pirque, on the Maipo
River. Here, Rafael Guilisasti, from another important Basque family in
Chile's wine industry, has staked his own claim to leadership in
the future of quality wine exports. This is no small feat, since in
Chile, fathers rarely pass control to their sons until they die. Rafael
clearly has the benediction of his father and the power within Concha y
Toro, enabling him to move this giant company forward on the frontline
of quality, a trick few old line California firms have been able to
accomplish.

In early 1990, Rafael introduced his new Don Melchor Cabernet
Sauvignon. The 1987 Don Melchor is the first "new" cabernet
export markets will see from Chile. It does not have the smooth
richness and concentration of its younger brother, the 1988, but it has
some of the finesse and quality of fruit that we will soon come to
associate with this country's premium bottlings. The wine is
selected in the winery after fermentation, from fruit grown in the
firm's best cabernet vineyard, across the Maipo River in Puente
Alto. Tasted alongside Concha y Toro's Marques de Casa Concha, a
wine from the same vineyard, it is clear that careful selection can make
a marked difference in the finished wine. The Don Melchor is aged in
French oak, while the less expensive Marques de Casa Concha is stored in
rauli, a native hardwood used pervasively in the Chilean wine industry.

In 1989, Puente Alto was the last cabernet vineyard to be harvested
in Chile, and the intensity and ripeness shows in the wine. Rafael is
not as forthcoming as some of the other innovators about how Concha y
toro may be changing their viticultural techniques, but there is a clear
progression in density of flavor from the 1987 through the 1989. All
three vintages are worthy of attention. At $11-12 in the U.S. Concha y
Toro has released their new red at a lower price and over a year earlier
than their neighbor to the south, Santa Rita. The strategy is a clear
indication of who's in charge. At Concha y Toro, Rafael gathers
his winemakers and enologist Goetz von Gersdorff around him like
Napoleon and his generals. Goetz has latitude to experiment, delighting
in cool climate research with whites from Casa-blanca by the sea and
Mulchen to the south, but clearly Rafael's vision is driving the
company forward.

Santa Rita, in Buin, is also a giant in terms of production, and,
like Concha y Toro, most of its production is in less expensive wine for
the domestic market. Its ownership is controlled by Ricardo Claro, one
of the wealthiest and most powerful industrualists in the country. But
the real force at Santa Rita had until recently been winemaker Ignacio
Recabarren, whose personal strength is like an electric current. His
goal has been to produce wines at the highest international levels of
quality.

Lithe as a predatory feline, Recabarren had been guarding his
experimental, top of the line '87 cabernet from early release into
the market. His recent departure from Santa Rita has provided the
opportunity for Klaus Schroeder Baasch to take over as enologist, and,
as of this writing, the special reserve wine from Santa Rita has yet to
be released.

Before leaving, Recabarren had planned extensively for the future
of viticulture at Santa Rita. Cabernet vineyards have been
reconfigured, the vines trained low to the ground on a double guyot trellis. According to Recabarren, "In the last three years, we
have been planting vineyards at 4000-6000 vines per hectare to get
greater concentration in the wine. There is a difference in the wine if
you have the same yield, 4-5 tons per hectare, when there are 3000 vines
per hectare as opposed to 6000 vines. We're cutting down our
yields, even as we increase the density of our vines." This
recalls Huneeus' remarks about vigor. Denser plantings force the
vines to compete with each other, leaving less opportunity to grow
excessive vegetation. Competitive plants tend to focus energy in
reproduction, i.e., the grape.

Santa Rota's secret weapon is an unnamed reserve wine from
1987. Recabarren explained that the wine was selected in the vineyard.
"I selected by the vines, the grapes that have the exact
combination of pH, total acidity, and degree of sugar on that day. Then
I took the wine through extended skin contact for 50 days; then into
barriques for 550 days."

The initial aromatic impression of this 1987 is of beeswax, the
seductive quality in certain young classified growths of Bordeaux'
Medoc. The tightly structured wine gives every indication it should age
well, though no one has the experience to know how a Chilean wine made
under these processes will develop over time. Rodrigo Buzeta, Santa
Rita's export manager, estimated that the wine will sell for $17
(U.S.) upon release. Anyone willing to risk fashion for taste will
likely find in this wine all the elements of a fine and powerful
Bordeaux, without the price of hype.

Which leads to the final destination of this Chilean excursion,
further south and west toward the sea, in the tiny village of Peralillo.
There Jorge Eyzaguirre and his wife Maria Ignacia Echenique own a
vineyard of 2000 hectares, in which they recently sold a 50% interest to
Eric Rothschild of Chateau Lafite in Bordeaux.

Jorge Eyzaguirre related the story of his deal with Lafite over
breakfast. Another powerful Basque in the Chilean wine business,
Eyzaguirre is solidly built, with a square face and deep-set eyes that
lit up as he talked of his first break at VinExpo '87 in Bordeaux.

"On the last day of the fair, the newspaper of Bordeaux
published an article comparing our wines with the Medoc of '82. We
received a lot of people from the great wineries that day. They came to
our stand because of the article, and I found that there was an interest
in France to help me with out wines here.

"When I got back, I sent the article to a friend in London who
worked with Rothchild. I asked him if Eric would have any interest.
Two months later, he called and wanted to visit in December. He said,
'Eric has the papers and he did not say no.'

"He came with a video-recorder, and spent the whole day with
the camera. After the visit, I received a letter from Eric, who said he
thought we could do business 'one way or another.'"

After visits from enologists, tastings of other Chilean wines, and
their assessment that Los Vascos could be No. 1 in Chile, Eric Rotchild
came to Los Vascos in September of 1988.

"We had a serious meeting. 'Well, Jorge,' he said,
'all the information is good. But I must be able to live with my
partner. I must know how he thinks, how he lives, because I want to
make a 200 year deal, not a 90 day deal.' We signed in
November."

The winery started on the sixth of January and was ready to harvest
the reds in March. The 1989 harvest was different in two major
ways--new crushing machinery leading to temperature controlled stainless
steel tanks, and a new way of picking the grapes. Gilbert Rokvam,
Rothschild's enologist, spent two months overseeing the harvest and
winemaking. In the past, because there was not sufficient capacity to
take in all the wine at once, Eyzaguirre's cabernet harvest lasted
forty days. In 1989, the cabernet was picked selectively, according to
the ripeness of the grapes, over a period of fifteen days. "In
1988, we started with high acidity and finished with low. In 1989, the
acidity was the same."

The wine was then aged in barriques from the cellars of Lafite and
Cos d'Estournel. Rokvam believes that Chilean fruit cannot take
too much new oak, so at Los Vadcos they are experimenting with wood of
various ages. As we approached the winery, old casks of rauli which
Jorge hopes to sell to another winery were lined up outside the building
to make room for the new barriques coming in from Bordeaux. Entering
the winery, in the middle of this sleepy valley, the frenetic activity
of construction had slowed to a calmer pace.

Tasting cabernets with Eyzaguirre, the family resemblance of all
the vintages is apparent. Although the radical changes brought in by
Lafite have dramatically increased the quality of the '89 vintage
when compared to earlier bottlings, there remains a distinctive
character in all the Los Vascos Cabernets. This is the taste of the
soil in Caneten, the specific and consistent flavor that defines a
chateau bottled wine.

Eyzaguirre explained that only Los Vascos and Cousino Macul have
the potential to create completely estate bottled wines in Chile.
Cousino Macul's estate is in Santiago itself. While the industry
changed radically in the late '80s, the estate was governed under
the conservative patriarchy of Don Arturo. Most Chileans agree that the
potential for greatness exists at Caousino, and the wines have
individuality and elegance. During 1990, with a new, gentle pneumatic
press installed, Cousino's white wines have dramatically improved.
Young Arturo, the export manager, and his father Carlos Cousino are now
implementing their own program to keep pace with the developments in
Chile.

At Los Vascos, Eyzaguirre has handed over complete wine-making
control to Lafite, and is confident in the outcome. After years of
building a small empire in this valley, he seems to view the joint
venture as his greatest accomplishment rather than any admission that he
could not make it on his own. Certainly, this is how it is perceived by
many of his competitors. On the day of our visit, as we returned to the
house past vineyard workers in huaso hats and donkey carts stirring the
road dust, we were greeted by the team from Panquehue--Chadwick, Huneeus
and their German friends. They had come to inspect the winery and
vineyards, to see for themselves how the vines were being retrained, the
density of planting, the million liters of stainless steel, and, of
course, Eyzaguirre's famed rose garden.

Shaking hands all around, there was a sense of comraderie among
vineyard owners. Jorge raised a glass to toast the future. With a new
level of quality wines in bottles and cellars, it's only a matter
of time before we begin to think of Chile in a new light. Great wines
have a way of changing our perspective.

Joshua Greene is the editor and publisher of Wine & Spirits
magazine, an independent consumer publication based in San Francisco.
He recently returned from a visit to Santiago, Chile.

COPYRIGHT 1990 Organization of American States
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